Let me google that for you

Lori Graf was all out of breath Thursday when I made my nightly run to the Janesville Police Department. She’d been on the phone all night, she said, telling people where to park during a snow emergency.

At the time, the city wasn’t even under a snow emergency. But people were calling left and right asking where they should park when they got to work this morning.

The information is available in about 12 million places, but some people apparently prefer to call and ask a human to read it to them. We see it here all the time, and it cracks me up. Our sports reporters regularly get calls from people wanting to know what channel the game is on and when it starts. More than once, I’ve googled something for a reader who called to ask me directions to somewhere or another.

I've often thought it would be a revenue source for the newspaper industry. People could call and pay to have me read my story to them over the phone.

Most of us in this newsroom remember fondly the person who called to ask a former news clerk where to find the tunnel that runs from the Gazette to GM. That was in 2007 when then-candidate Obama stopped at the plant during his campaign.

No, we don’t have a tunnel. Seriously.

Anyway, the nice ladies at the PD are going to be busy tonight handling calls about fender benders and such. How about you save or print this lovely news brief about the city’s emergency parking rules and save it for next time?